Why can't foreigners in Thailand read and speak Thai?

[DocN]

I can only speak for myself: I was considered a good learner of languages, when it came to speaking.

I was lost, when it came to grammar.

Until today, I could not make up a sentence, if you would ask me to put it in "past perfect"...

And I am even more lost with the Thai- system of "melody". I just have total difficulties pronouncing pet,pet,pet ...or even pet differently, when I am talking about ducks, the number 8, spicy food or jewels!

Happy for the OP, that he is such a genius, though!

[simon43]

Speaking Thai and reading Thai (writing to a lesser extent), can be very beneficial for the foreigner who is not living in an 'expat ghetto', or wishes to integrate more with his/her local community, or is interested in what 'they' are really saying about him/her

At my home, we all speak 'Thinglao', a homebrew mix of Thai, Lao and English, often with all 3 languages in the same sentence. I'm the exception, because I have to throw in some Myanmar as well, when conversing with our building workers

But live and let live - some people find it very hard to learn a new language, and some people are simply too lazy....

Simon

[Showbags]

Most of us do not want to 'dumb down'

Hungry water...

[sms747]

Well I gave up years ago and today was a good example of why. Got in taxi alone, asked khun mee pleng mai, repeated three times driver thought I was on about the meter. Mrs says I speak very good (well she would) Get to home a tell him soi hok, he tries to go down soi 2, mai chai soi hok, tries to go down soi 4, finally we get there by eliminating the wrong sois. It's really not worth the bother as far as i'm concerned, I have done my best and that's it.

I should add I have lived here 7 years and started 'learning' to speak in 1995, obviously not well enough even for the simplest of things.

Edited December 4, 2013 by sms747

[thailiketoo]

I have noticed reading Thai Visa that the posters who don't speak Thai are likely to be negative towards Thailand and the posters who speak Thai more positive. Same with the word Farang. You can bet your booty that if you think Farang is a negative word that you are headed for trouble in Thailand.

[TexasRanger]

Some of us can read and write Thai, others can't. Either way this thread is just someone looking for people to wind up.

[luckyluke]

I tried many years ago.

As I read, speak, write 4 different languages( not always perfectly) I thought it wouldn't be that difficult to learn Thai, I was wrong,

I stopped the day I was on a local market and tried to explain what I wanted to the stallholder and he said " Sir not understand, can you say English please"

[Thai at Heart]

Most long term visitors to thailand arrive quite late in life, so they find it quite difficult to learn the lingo.

Not made any easier by the fact that Thais can't even come up with one standard way to transliterate Thai to the western alphabet.

[Thai at Heart]

Most long term visitors to thailand arrive quite late in life, so they find it quite difficult to learn the lingo.

Not made any easier by the fact that Thais can't even come up with one standard way to transliterate Thai to the western alphabet.

[thailiketoo]

Some of us can read and write Thai, others can't. Either way this thread is just someone looking for people to wind up.

Oh I thought it was a pay back for all of the, "Why don't Thais speak English" threads that we are burdened with at least once a month.

[thailiketoo]

Most long term visitors to thailand arrive quite late in life, so they find it quite difficult to learn the lingo.

Not made any easier by the fact that Thais can't even come up with one standard way to transliterate Thai to the western alphabet.

Well ya!!!! That's why one has to learn to read and write Thai before one speaks it.

[Briggsy]

Speak for yourself, น้องบแรด

[Thai at Heart]

Most long term visitors to thailand arrive quite late in life, so they find it quite difficult to learn the lingo.

Not made any easier by the fact that Thais can't even come up with one standard way to transliterate Thai to the western alphabet.

Well ya!!!! That's why one has to learn to read and write Thai before one speaks it.

Question asks read and speak. I speak, I am told, good Thai, but cannot read or write much.

[thailiketoo]

Most long term visitors to thailand arrive quite late in life, so they find it quite difficult to learn the lingo.

Not made any easier by the fact that Thais can't even come up with one standard way to transliterate Thai to the western alphabet.

Well ya!!!! That's why one has to learn to read and write Thai before one speaks it.

Question asks read and speak. I speak, I am told, good Thai, but cannot read or write much.

You were right about the transliteration. You either have to learn some funny made up English language school alphabet or learn how to read Thai before you can speak it. Easier to just learn the Thai and not mess with the fake alphabets the schools make up. There are too many sounds that are not in the proper English alphabet.

[toybits]

Hmmmm, Just look at how kids learn. Did they learn to write Da da, mmmma mmmma before they spoke it? I think not.

Well ya!!!! That's why one has to learn to read and write Thai before one speaks it.

[willyumiii]

Many of us come here "later in life",maybe retirement age or a little earlier.

Thai is a very tonal language.

After 30 years of age, it becomes more and more difficult to hear subtle differences or changes in tone.

This means....

The older we are, the less likely we are to master the Thai language.

On the other hand, my daughter picked up the language in two weeks...when she was three years old!

[richard_smith237]

Simple answer: Laziness...

We can all pull the wool over our own eyes, state that its a difficult language, we can't own land so always feel we are here temporarily, suggest that its pointless to learn a single-nation-language - But truthfully, if we were somehow presented with an opportunity to learn fluent Thai in a week how many of us would turn that opportunity down?.

I think of the time I have spent relaxing in a bar or chilling out at home in front of the TV when I could have put that time to use learning to read and write Thai. I'd surely be fluent by now right ?

I speak Thai, not fluently but enough to surprise people I work with. I'm told I have a 'Suphanburi' accent, I've no idea how that happened.

I can't read or write Thai.

I don't know what I don't know... meaning, I don't know what I'm missing out on by not speaking fluent Thai or how much more Thai there is to learn.

Most of my Thai friends speak fluent English, My Wife speaks fluent English. When in a group I can understand and follow most of the conversation (about 80%) but when its my turn to speak I lack the eloquence fluency offers.

I spend half of my time working outside of Thailand, when I return I'm fatigued and want to relax - that doesn't involve learning another language in any greater detail and I have preferred to let my language development take its natural course... Or in truth, I'm lazy !...

[FiftyTwo]

"I am always appalled at the vast majority of foreigners living permanently or quasi-permanently in Thailand and yet being completely illiterate. I have met almost none who could read Thai, when it does not take that long to learn. Most of them can blabber a couple sentences in Thai in such a horrible accent that only bar girls can understand. Very few are able to speak basic conversational Thai. I am sure that a vast majority of them would cringe at foreigners coming to their countries and refusing to learn their language. So why can't foreigners in Thailand learn to read and speak?"

1. Lack of teachers with any educational ability

2. Most Thais not wanting foreigners to learn Thai

3. Most foreigners wives/gfs actively sabotaging/discouraging the foreigner to learn Thai

4. Limited use of learning Thai (If you want to learn a language, why not learn a useful one like Chinese, etc.)

Horrible accents.

I can understand all the foreigners trying to speak English with horrible accents, Americans, Australians, Irish, Scots, Thai English teachers. Why do the Thais not understand our horrible Thai accents ......... why do they insist on trying to speak to us in broken English, especially those of us who speak German, French, Spanish, etc.

Once you learn Thai.

As a previous poster said, once you understand what they are saying, many choose to leave.

And finally.

That old favourite, which Thai language should we learn? There are about 6 main languages, then each village has it's own language.

Ever watched Thai news programs, they often have clips with central Thai sub-titles, that's because nobody in the clip is speaking central Thai.

Unlike RS, I don't believe central Thai is a difficult language to learn, after all, the most ignorant and xenophobic nation on this earth seem to have little problem speaking it.

Edited December 4, 2013 by FiftyTwo

[thailiketoo]

Hmmmm, Just look at how kids learn. Did they learn to write Da da, mmmma mmmma before they spoke it? I think not.

Well ya!!!! That's why one has to learn to read and write Thai before one speaks it.

No doubt you have never been to a Thai language school. And two you are not a baby anymore. In school you have to learn a funny alphabet made up of double characters and tone marks but it is still not the same. The teacher teaches you a Thai sound that goes with n/n****** or LL#$@ and you have to remember that as opposed to remembering a Thai character that goes with a particular sound. This is also very important for people who are memory challenged because they can read the Thai to practice.

[thailiketoo]

"I am always appalled at the vast majority of foreigners living permanently or quasi-permanently in Thailand and yet being completely illiterate. I have met almost none who could read Thai, when it does not take that long to learn. Most of them can blabber a couple sentences in Thai in such a horrible accent that only bar girls can understand. Very few are able to speak basic conversational Thai. I am sure that a vast majority of them would cringe at foreigners coming to their countries and refusing to learn their language. So why can't foreigners in Thailand learn to read and speak?"

1. Lack of teachers with any educational ability

2. Most Thais not wanting foreigners to learn Thai

3. Most foreigners wives/gfs actively sabotaging/discouraging the foreigner to learn Thai

4. Limited use of learning Thai (If you want to learn a language, why not learn a useful one like Chinese, etc.)

Horrible accents.

I can understand all the foreigners trying to speak English with horrible accents, Americans, Australians, Irish, Scots, Thai English teachers. Why do the Thais not understand our horrible Thai accents ......... why do they insist on trying to speak to us in broken English, especially those of us who speak German, French, Spanish, etc.

Once you learn Thai.

As a previous poster said, once you understand what they are saying, many choose to leave.

And finally.

That old favourite, which Thai language should we learn? There are about 6 main languages, then each village has it's own language.

Ever watched Thai news programs, they often have clips with central Thai sub-titles, that's because nobody in the clip is speaking central Thai.

Unlike RS, I don't believe central Thai is a difficult language to learn, after all, the most ignorant and xenophobic nation on this earth seem to have little problem speaking it.

Which to learn? That's easy to answer. The one the news readers use. Central Thai. You do know why the newsreaders on TV speak Central Thai don't you? Because everyone in Thailand (except my Mother in law) understands Central Thai. Do the newsreaders have subtitles? No, because everyone understands them.

[FiftyTwo]

Which to learn? That's easy to answer. The one the news readers use. Central Thai. You do know why the newsreaders on TV speak Central Thai don't you? Because everyone in Thailand (except my Mother in law) understands Central Thai. Do the newsreaders have subtitles? No, because everyone understands them.

The OP was talking about foreigners not being able to participate in conversations.

Very few conversations in and around my home are in central Thai, I rarely have the chance to chat with Thai newsreaders.

Most of the people around me are normally speaking Lanna or Burmese.

Shop assistants, builders, street cleaners, petrol pump attendants, wait staff ...... speak Burmese and a little English.

Wife, family, neighbours ....... speak Lanna.

Edited December 4, 2013 by FiftyTwo

[dao16]

Well I gave up years ago and today was a good example of why. Got in taxi alone, asked khun mee pleng mai, repeated three times driver thought I was on about the meter. Mrs says I speak very good (well she would) Get to home a tell him soi hok, he tries to go down soi 2, mai chai soi hok, tries to go down soi 4, finally we get there by eliminating the wrong sois. It's really not worth the bother as far as i'm concerned, I have done my best and that's it.

I should add I have lived here 7 years and started 'learning' to speak in 1995, obviously not well enough even for the simplest of things.

Well, if your wife understands, you must be speaking correctly to some extent. I don't let those things get me down, as some people here just see a foreign face and completely shut down linguistically. That is their mental block. Sometimes I say something like "hey, I am speaking Thai right now" and they usually snap out of it (some still don't! up to them, hahahaha). I just keep talking to them then rock on down the way.

By the way, I have the same thing with my wife in both languages. We understand each other pretty well, but often have to "translate" parts of what I say in Thai or she says in English to others. We both know the mistakes or oddities in pronunciation the other one is making, so it makes sense that we would understand each other more.

[thailiketoo]

Which to learn? That's easy to answer. The one the news readers use. Central Thai. You do know why the newsreaders on TV speak Central Thai don't you? Because everyone in Thailand (except my Mother in law) understands Central Thai. Do the newsreaders have subtitles? No, because everyone understands them.

The OP was talking about foreigners not being able to participate in conversations.

Very few conversations in and around my home are in central Thai, I rarely have the chance to chat with Thai newsreaders.

Most of the people around me are normally speaking Lanna or Burmese.

Shop assistants, builders, street cleaners, petrol pump attendants, wait staff ...... speak Burmese and a little English.

Wife, family, neighbours ....... speak Lanna.

My point was in addition to those languages that you mention they all speak Central Thai because that is what is taught at school and what they see all day on TV. I take it you do want to travel outside of your village some day so Central Thai would be the language to learn. If you live in Burma I would imagine you would want to learn Burmese.

[David48]

Hmmmm, Just look at how kids learn. Did they learn to write Da da, mmmma mmmma before they spoke it? I think not.

Well ya!!!! That's why one has to learn to read and write Thai before one speaks it.

Well, I've a kid on the way. The gf has just gone into the last trimester ... that means the bub now is starting to be able to hear properly.

I just hope she doesn't spend to much time in front of the TV with those Thai Soaps on ...

I can live without my kid learning that <deleted> !

[Thai at Heart]

Most long term visitors to thailand arrive quite late in life, so they find it quite difficult to learn the lingo.

Not made any easier by the fact that Thais can't even come up with one standard way to transliterate Thai to the western alphabet.

Well ya!!!! That's why one has to learn to read and write Thai before one speaks it.

Question asks read and speak. I speak, I am told, good Thai, but cannot read or write much.

You were right about the transliteration. You either have to learn some funny made up English language school alphabet or learn how to read Thai before you can speak it. Easier to just learn the Thai and not mess with the fake alphabets the schools make up. There are too many sounds that are not in the proper English alphabet.

Where I was working and living the first time I came to thailand there weren't many language schools.

[thailiketoo]

Hmmmm, Just look at how kids learn. Did they learn to write Da da, mmmma mmmma before they spoke it? I think not.

Well ya!!!! That's why one has to learn to read and write Thai before one speaks it.

Well, I've a kid on the way. The gf has just gone into the last trimester ... that means the bub now is starting to be able to hear properly.

I just hope she doesn't spend to much time in front of the TV with those Thai Soaps on ...

I can live without my kid learning that <deleted> !

I really like music that was popular the year before I was born.

[dao16]

Which to learn? That's easy to answer. The one the news readers use. Central Thai. You do know why the newsreaders on TV speak Central Thai don't you? Because everyone in Thailand (except my Mother in law) understands Central Thai. Do the newsreaders have subtitles? No, because everyone understands them.

The OP was talking about foreigners not being able to participate in conversations.

Very few conversations in and around my home are in central Thai, I rarely have the chance to chat with Thai newsreaders.

Most of the people around me are normally speaking Lanna or Burmese.

Shop assistants, builders, street cleaners, petrol pump attendants, wait staff ...... speak Burmese and a little English.

Wife, family, neighbours ....... speak Lanna.

I think you would have to be pretty far out in a hill tribe village to find people who don't speak Thai here. Not saying it doesn't exist, but everywhere I have been (no, not everywhere in the country, but all the four regions, for sure) people easily switch back to more standard Thai to communicate to me. Then in the next sentence they might switch right back to their local dialect, but it isn't like they don't "know" central Thai. They know it.

Also, over time, you do pick up the local language(s) where you are staying if you are paying attention. I do ok understanding Isaan and I dabble in a minority (but not classified as a hill tribe) language. Would know more of that last one if I lived a full on village life. It just comes up in conversation, and I have never picked up a book to learn it (there aren't many about it anyway).

So, there are many valid reasons for not wanting to spend the time learning Thai, but deciding what "version" to learn is not one.

Edited December 4, 2013 by dao16

[Jackson86]

I speak 4 languages - chinese, english, cantonese and hokkien.

Currently learning thai as a foreign language. very difficult to write and read only.

[Rhys]

I think, in general, that we should not care, or worse, interfere with what our fellow ex-pats decide to do ... or not do.

It's no business of mine.

Of course, if they need a helping hand ... I'm first to offer mine.

But, if they wish to learn the Thai Language ... fine.

If they wish to become a master potter, or fisherman, or cook ...fine.

... and if they choose not to do ... fine by me also.

Enjoy your own life and don't be a back-seat driver to other's lives.

ON TARGET..enjoy

.

[brucegoniners]

Sorry you are "appalled". That's your problem, not mine.

First of all, I'm not "illiterate". I'm a whole lot smarter than 98% of the Thai people, that's for sure. I'm university educated and I believe plenty smart.

Second, I live in the middle of Bangkok, where plenty of English is spoken. Almost everything is written in English. My wife speaks great English if I need a translator. There just isn't enough motivation for me to go out and learn the language.

I know enough Thai to get the food I want to get, find the bathroom and get home in a taxi. And that's good enough for me, lol

Why don't you worry about your own life instead of others who you are supposedly so much smarter than. From your post it's obvious you're not that smart.